


Hidden Histories

by kiarcheo



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, F/F, Family Fluff, Family Reunions, Fluff, Historical Inaccuracy, I suppose, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, historical setting, it's mostly only hinted at but this is your tw if you need one, the queens and the kids are in the last chapter, we all know what happened to Katherine, which is all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26547385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo
Summary: The one where Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr meet during the early days of Anna's marriage, they keep making plans and the king keeps messing them up.
Relationships: Katherine Howard & Catherine Parr, Katherine Howard/Catherine Parr
Comments: 20
Kudos: 53





	1. There Is No Future for Us as a Pair

**Author's Note:**

> This was way bigger in my head, but my imagination is leagues ahead of my writing skills and this is all I could do.
> 
> Historical accuracy? Never heard of it. Timelines are skewed and tweaked, I mostly made Cathy younger and moved forward some events in her life. Should go without saying that while I used historical events as main guidelines and framework, I ignored some and invented others.
> 
> English is not my first language and I didn’t even try to attempt a 16th-century English. Also royal life and Tudor times in general are not my expertise. 
> 
> TLDR: it’s a fanfiction, bear with me and my inaccuracies.
> 
> We all know how Katherine’s story ended so…yeah. There is that too.

‘Lady Herbert, your presence is required.’ The two women who had been walking arm in arm in the royal gardens stop.

Lady Catherine Latimer pats her sister’s hand. ‘Go, Anne, don’t worry about me.’

‘Lady Howard, I entrust you with my dear sister.’

Catherine holds off her tongue to remind Anne that she is the oldest and doesn’t need looking after as she would have had if they had been alone. With her husband’s reputation in tatters, the last thing she wants is to undermine her sister’s position at court in any way. Not after she had managed to maintain her position as lady-in-waiting to the new queen Anna von Kleve after having similarly served the three previous queens.

‘Lady Latimer.’ The young girl offers her arm.

‘I do not wish to take you away from your duties.’ Catherine nonetheless takes it as politeness demands. ‘And please, there is no need for such formalities.’

‘My presence is not as necessary as Lady Herbert’s.’ Between Anne’s experience and the queen’s limited knowledge of English as well as of the working of court, Anne had taken on more responsibilities in the Queen’s household. ‘I dare say my absence might not even be noticed.’

‘Her Majesty seems to appreciate your presence.’ Catherine had not been at court for many days, but she has already noticed how the queen seems to favour the young maid of honour. Malevolent chatter is that it is because the queen sees something of herself in the girl, both floundering in roles they are not fit for, Lady Howard’s missteps and the queen’s chuckling reactions attributed not to benevolent demeanour but rather to ignorance that a blunder has been made in the first place.

‘It’s a pleasure and an honour to serve the Queen.’ It is probably the first time that Catherine is tempted to truly believe such words are said in total honesty.

‘The Queen is fortunate to have such a loyal lady at her service.’

‘Your words flatter me, Lady Latimer- Lady Catherine.’ She corrects herself at the pointed look she receives.

‘I’m merely stating what I observe, Lady Howard.’

‘Katherine.’

Catherine barely manages to avoid stumbling, surprised at the familiarity of being addressed by her first name.

‘I mean, my name is Katherine, if we are avoiding formalities.’

Katherine’s presence is indeed not as frequently required as Anne’s is, and while Catherine would object to her sister that she doesn’t need a chaperone, she doesn’t mind as much when it’s Katherine. The two quickly establish a friendship, Catherine finding out why the Queen seems to enjoy the younger girl’s company so much.

‘I see you have made a friend.’ Anne had commented one day as Katherine had warmly bid farewell to Catherine after Anne had informed her that the Queen had called for her.

‘Why do you sound so surprised?’

‘It is simply…unexpected.’

‘I thought you liked her.’ Anne isn’t one to speak ill of anyone (likely wouldn’t have been able to keep her position in the royal household with four different queens if she had been), but Catherine knows her sister and her tell-tale signs of silent dislike.

‘I do. She is a lovely girl. A bit flighty, but she is still young. Just not…particularly bright.’

The more time Catherine spends with Katherine, the more she disagrees with her sister. Except on the lovely part. While Katherine is younger than both of them, she is not even the youngest among the queen’s household. Anne had started at Queen Catherine of Aragon’s court at thirteen, but the usual age for appointment as maid-of-honour is sixteen.

Her vivacity, which got her reprimanded more than once by older attendants, rarely fails to put a smile on her companions’ faces, whether they are her fellow maids-of-honour or the Queen herself. Catherine has little doubt that it is often done on purpose, as when spending time together Katherine tends to be more on the quiet side. 

And the last part of Anne’s assessment. Catherine wonders if perhaps her sister is conflating education and intelligence. Few women (and not many men, if you ask Catherine) are as educated as Anne and Catherine had the privilege to be and Catherine often despairs over how many brilliant minds have been squandered because of it. Katherine has a hunger for knowledge that Catherine is only happy to help satiate, and she is quick on the uptake. While not particularly scholarly her contributions to their conversations are usually thoughtful and intelligent…once she gets over her reservations over sharing her thoughts. Catherine would like to have a chat with whoever had repeatedly told that she is stupid and nothing more than a pretty face. Catherine had even witnessed Katherine trying to learn German while helping the Queen practicing English. Having learnt foreign languages herself she has doubts on the effectiveness of the methods used, but she commends the attempts nonetheless.

While Catherine enjoys their intellectual conversations, the ones that she treasures the most are more private, personal ones. It surprises even herself when the subject turns to the Pilgrimage of Grace and she doesn’t shy away from the topic, despite it bringing up less than pleasant memories (or downright terrifying).

It’s during one of those chats that Katherine confesses that life at court is not what she expected and perhaps not something she would choose again, if given the choice. Catherine offers her a position at Snape Castle, mostly in jest. Katherine however expresses real interest in the proposition.

‘I thought you liked your duties.’

‘Oh, I like serving Her Majesty very much.’ Sometimes what it is not said speak louder than what it is. ‘Do you think your husband would have any objections?’

‘I would need to ask, but I do not think so.’ They don’t exactly have people rushing to work for them after what happened, the family reputation still tarnished even years later. ‘But leaving court for…It would be a demotion.’ She feels the duty to remind her.

Katherine doesn’t seem to mind too much and in her mind Catherine agrees that her friend is not well-suited for life at court. And not because she is not educated or smart enough or anything of that sort. The thought had been cemented the day Catherine had learned of what had happened while Katherine was under her step-grandmother’s care. Katherine had just vaguely hinted at it, but unfortunately Catherine thinks that there is no woman who would not get quickly what she was talking about. Which was dangerous and what worried Catherine the most.

Everyone knew about the uprising in the North and the rebels taking the castle and holding her and her stepchildren hostage, and what she had shared, while deeply personal, could not damage her reputation (not more than it already was due to her husband’s somewhat hazy role in the rebellion, at least). But Katherine’s past, if known, could ruin her. She supposes this is where the naivety of young age came to play. While touched by the trust showed, Catherine had made sure to impress upon Katherine that she was to not talk, mention, or even hint at it with anyone else ever again.

Catherine is aware that she can’t change the past and protect the younger girl from those men, but perhaps she can help now. If she moves in with her at Snape Castle, she would be safe from the nest of vipers that it is the court, always ready to stab you in the back. Maybe she could even find her a nice husband. Perhaps even her stepson John; they are close in age and it would allow Catherine to keep Katherine close.

\-----

Catherine watches as the red-haired child dances, carefree, under the loving gaze of the girl playing the lute. Lady Elizabeth had been called at court by her father, the king, to meet his new queen, and Katherine had told Catherine how she had quickly came to care for the young girl, who was also her first cousin once removed.

Katherine halts the music when she notices Elizabeth has stopped dancing and is looking behind her. She turns around, standing up once she sees who their spectator is.

‘Lady Elizabeth, this is Lady Catherine Latimer, a good friend of mine.’ 

‘Have I been summoned?’ Elizabeth asks sending a disappointed look towards Katherine, after the protocol of introductions and greetings is over.

‘No,’ Catherine sends her a comforting smile. It seems that the affection her friend feels is reciprocal. ‘I’ve come to say goodbye as I’m about to leave.’

‘Is the King sending you away too?’

She is left speechless for a second before recovering. ‘No, I was visiting, but my presence is now required at my husband’s side, he’s unwell.’

‘Where?’

Catherine welcomes the childlike curiosity with a smile. ‘Yorkshire.’

‘I’ve never been there.’

‘You’re always welcome to visit.’ She exchanges a look with Katherine. Hopefully she will be visiting both of them there.

‘Would you like me to leave?’ They look at the seven-year-old as if they had forgotten she was there. Elizabeth doesn’t wait for a reply, she bids farewell to Catherine and turns around. The adults share a guilty glance as the child starts pickling at the lute.

Catherine grabs Katherine’s hands. ‘I will ask him as soon as I arrive. And I’ll write you.’

Katherine impulsively draws her into a hug. ‘I look forward to seeing you again soon.’

The situation, however, quickly spirals out of their control, too fast for their letters to keep up with. In a little more than a month Queen Anna is first asked to leave court, then her marriage is annulled, and the king gets married again.

Catherine finds herself visiting her sister, who is once again lady-in-waiting for a new queen, this time Queen Katherine Howard. And it’s her sister she has to thank if she is currently spending some time alone with her friend, after Anne had led Elizabeth away.

‘She seems happier.’ Catherine comments. The child had greeted her as cheerfully as protocol allowed, asking if she had come to visit her new mother.

‘One of the few good things to come out from this situation. And you visiting, of course.’ Katherine attempts to put back a smile on her face, which had fallen as soon as the company left and the door had closed behind them, leaving them alone. ‘Mary hates me.’

‘Katherine.’ Catherine frowns. She hates to see the younger girl like this.

‘I don’t blame her.’ She shakes her head. ‘She liked Anna. And doesn’t like having a step-mother several years younger than herself.’ She sits down. ‘I just hoped she could be a friend. God knows if I need one.’

‘I’m your friend.’ Catherine sits down next to her and takes her hands in her own.

‘And yet when I think of you as a friend, I feel oddly disappointed.’ Katherine squeezes her hands, before slowly and purposely leaning in. The intentions are clear, there is no need to have been married twice to get it, but she is giving Catherine all the time needed to move away. She doesn’t.

Their lips press together in a chaste kiss.

‘We can’t.’ Catherine leans away abruptly. ‘You are-’

‘Don’t say too young. If I’m old enough to be queen, I’m old enough to…at least for once I wanted to see how it feels to kiss someone because I want to.’ She trails off, defeated. ‘I apologise for making you uncomfortable.’

‘It is not that.’ And it’s not. She is not uncomfortable. Not because of her age, at least. The reason why she, and many others, are uncomfortable with the King marrying Katherine is not necessarily her age, but rather his. After all, Catherine herself had been Katherine’s age when she married the first time….but her husband had been in his twenties, not one year shy of fifty. And also, not the King. ‘You are my queen. This is treason.’

‘Forgive my foolishness.’ Katherine makes to stand up, but Catherine holds her down, not letting go her hands.

‘Perhaps we could revisit our plans in the future.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘In my personal experience, husbands too often leave their younger wives alone too early…and if such a terrible event happened, it would be my duty to offer consolation and support to a dear _friend_ -’

‘How come kissing the Queen is treason,’ Katherine hisses, leaning closer even if they are completely alone in the room, ‘but talking about the King’s death is fine?’

‘It was just a general observation. And taking an interest in the king’s age and health is not a crime.’ Catherine also lowers her voice. ‘Besides we know what happened to your cousin.’

Katherine pales, realisation dawning on her. ‘Forgive me, the last thing I ever wanted was to put you in danger.’

‘Don’t trouble yourself which such thoughts.’

‘You should stay far away from me.’

‘Katherine.’ Catherine cups her cheek to turn her head so she is looking at her. ‘I do not wish to.’

‘Me neither. I had planned to ask you to move to court.’ The younger girl chuckles bitterly.

‘I have plans to join Mary’s household. I am not sure how long John is going to last and-’

‘That is a way to make sure that we will not meet too often. I am sure Mary will do her best to avoid my presence as much as possible.’ Katherine tries to joke.

Indeed, they will not meet again.

It is Mary who brings Catherine the news of Katherine being stripped of her title and imprisoned. Mary considers Catherine a friend and knows of her soft spot for the young queen. Between Catherine and her sister Elizabeth, Mary doesn’t know whom Katherine’s strongest supporter is. And she doesn’t know who is going to take the news harder. Her sister, who loves to call the Queen mother, to their father’s apparent delight, or her friend, who had relentlessly tried to convince her to give a chance to the younger girl. Even as she is clearly trying not to crumble, Catherine takes the time to defend her friend after Mary makes a dig about Katherine’s age. They might have settled into a cordial relationship, but that is still a sore point for Mary. Catherine agrees that indeed Katherine had been quite young…how old would have she been at the time of the first ‘indiscretions’? She can see the realisation on Mary’s face, that either those accusations are false or they are true, and then she had been a victim and not at fault anyway.

Catherine spends two months hoping against reasons that Katherine will be spared, but as the Parliament introduces a bill that would make failure to disclose the sexual history of the queen consort to the king within twenty days of marriage treason and punishable by death, she knows it is only a matter of time. A bill of attainder is soon passed declaring Katherine guilty.

And if it was not enough, Catherine is not even able to mourn (her Katherine in secret, her husband – by now also dead – openly), because Henry chooses her as his next wife.

She can’t say no. Not to the king. Just like Katherine couldn’t. So she gets married once again, on 12 July 1543. The only thing that could have made it worse would have been marrying on the four months’ anniversary of Katherine’s death instead of the day before.

There are two constant thoughts in Catherine’s mind.

One is the promise she makes to herself, and in her heart to Katherine, to do her best to take care of and love Elizabeth and Edward and be a good friend to Mary, just like Katherine would have tried and would have wanted.

The other is that Henry can’t die soon enough.

_In the first year of Catherine’s marriage a new act of succession is introduced, which makes Mary and Elizabeth part of the succession once again._

_Both Edward and Elizabeth would consider and call Catherine mother._

_Ten years after Katherine’s death Queen Mary I will reverse the Act of Attainder against her, albeit on the basis of a technicality and not of her innocence._


	2. Wait for It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alternate happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers/notes from the first chapter are even more valid for this one…heavily fictional, with one big change in 'history', obviously.

Being part of Mary’s household makes exchanging letters with the Queen if not easier, certainly quicker. Not only the physical distance to cover is less, but correspondence between royal households is common, frequent, and more efficient than anything private that Catherine had ever been able to arrange when she had been in Yorkshire. It is not unusual for Catherine to send a letter one day, receive Katherine’s reply the next one and send a new one the day after.

Catherine sees the flourishing in Katherine’s letters, both in penmanship and in content. Her missives almost unrecognizable from the first ones they had exchanged, where the efforts clearly put into them couldn’t fully make up for the dreadful handwriting and spelling. Their letters are a mix of mundane topics and more intellectual discussions. After Katherine remarks in one message that Henry appreciates Catherine taking the time to share her knowledge and education with Katherine and wishes to thank her for it, Catherine is glad that they had employed from the start a sort of coded language. Discussions about pastoral literature would have surely appeared less innocuous had Henry known that every mention of a desired bucolic life was meant to stand for Katherine’s desire for a life away from court and that discussing lives devoted to God, free from ‘earthly’ duties, was a way to talk about lives without husbands and wifely obligations. Still she knows that nobody would ever believe the Queen capable of such subterfuges. She seems to be the only one aware that Katherine is much more than the stupid vapid girl they believe her to be at court, apparently unable to see beyond her looks, as stunning as they are. 

And then one letter arrives that makes Catherine’s blood run cold. Almost lost among descriptions of clothes and plans for a trip, a throwaway mention of Katherine revisiting a conversation they had in the past and asking Catherine’s opinion on what the character should have done when ‘the ghosts of the past came back to haunt him, demanding their tolls’.

‘I am not sure I understand your reference. Is it about the story we discussed that warm afternoon in the royal gardens while my dear sister Anne attended to the King’s beloved sister? If so, my opinion is that the protagonist should have chosen disgrace over death. It is possible to come back from ruin, especially with friendly help, but one cannot come back from death. A chance of redemption, no matter how small, is always preferable to the certainty of death.’

Catherine pens her response as quickly and as carefully as she can.

She hopes Katherine will understand.

She hopes it won’t come to it.

But of course, hoping never did Catherine Parr any good. It’s Mary who brings her the news that Katherine has been stripped of her title and is currently held waiting for the King’s decision after being questioned.

The court’s preconceptions about Katherine reveal themselves a blessing in disguise. Katherine plays the naïve girl, manipulated and caught up in games too big for a silly little girl and nobody doubts it for a second. She admits having been pre-contracted with Francis Dereham and the King gets to appear both as the victim of the situation and magnanimous, as he sends her away in disgrace but sparing her life. 

For days Catherine is in turmoil, having no news about Katherine except that she has been banished. With the queen’s household having been disbanded, she is not surprised by her sister’s visit, as it is likely that she will join Mary’s household. What she doesn’t expect is Anne bringing her news about Katherine. Knowing of their close relationship and having a soft spot for the younger girl herself, she had directed the former queen to a family property in the north of the country.

Their epistolary exchanges resume, albeit at a slower rate and even more carefully than before. Catherine asks Mary to be dismissed from her service. She is friendly enough with her to disclose that her husband is not getting any better and that she knows she will be named her step-daughter’s guardian after Neville’s death and put in charge of his affairs until her majority. To manage his affairs, she’d have to return north…what she leaves out is that up north is where the disgraced former queen, and that she plans to finally bring Katherine to her.

She has already thought about everything. It will be far enough from court that most people won’t recognize Katherine, the lack of portraits of the former queen circulating helping with that. Katherine is a common name as long as she goes with Lady Katherine without mentioning the surname. And even if - when? - Katherine’s presence at her house were to be discovered and questioned, she will say that she took her in out of pity, in the name of their old friendship. And yes, she was sent away in disgrace, but a demotion from Queen of England to lady-in-waiting for a lesser house (barony, after all, is the lowest rank of the peerage) isn’t disgraceful in itself? And if His Majesty had seen in his immense benevolence to spare her life, shouldn’t Catherine follow his enlightening example by providing that lost soul a mean to support her life rather than seeing her squandering the gift His Majesty has so generously given her? Laying it on thick, she knows, but Catherine won’t let her pride getting in the way, not after everything they already went through and managed to overcome.

Catherine genuinely mourns Neville when he dies, but she can’t help herself: she is finally seeing her dreams on the verge of becoming reality. Twice widowed, guardian of a teenage girl, she should be allowed some respite, right? She just wants to live peacefully, taking care of her family and friends, and pursuing knowledge. She doesn’t ask much, does she?

But once again her plans are thwarted by the King, newly single and ready to make an unsuspecting woman his wife. Just her luck. So she has to write a letter to Katherine, once again ending things before they could even start.

Catherine had built a future in her mind with Katherine, but now the hope is gone. She doesn’t have a choice. She never had a choice. _They_ never had a choice. If Henry says it’s you, then it’s you. Nobody knows that better than Katherine. And yes, if she could speak up, without holding back, she would tell him that there is no way she is giving up her girl, her work, her dreams for him. But of course, she can’t say that. Not to the king.

So she sends the letter to Katherine. Tells her goodbye. Marries the King.

And then finally. FINALLY. Henry dies. Not a minute too soon.

Catherine becomes the one who survived (as a wife, since both Anna and Katherine are still alive but not wives anymore), but she almost wasn’t.

She supposes that she had become too confident. She had published two books, the second one being the first to be published in English by a woman under her own name in England. The first one, though anonymous, had been published by the King’s printer. Henry knew of her interest in religious matters and as he had permitted her to publish, she thought he approved. Until she gets the news that an arrest warrant had been drawn up. She takes her own advice and a page out of Katherine’s book: she plays stupid and lies to save her skin. Of course she would never dare to think that she knows better than the King, she only debated with him to distract him from his pains and to learn from him. She is just a woman, after all. Humiliating but convincing enough that she becomes the last wife of Henry VIII instead of being added to the list of discarded consorts.

Among the good things coming from the King’s death, there is the fact that nobody expects a dowager queen to remarry again. In fact, she thinks it would actually be frowned upon. After Edward’s coronation she is more than happy to retire from court to a property left to her by Neville where Katherine is waiting for her. 

When Catherine had married Henry, she had brought her stepdaughter with her since she was her guardian, but she still had been in charge of the properties left to her by her second husband. Nobody at court was surprised by the regular correspondence she entertained as they had quickly learned she was quite an hand-on person if allowed to be and they correctly assumed that she wanted to be informed and involved in the running of those places. And if the majority of the exchanges happened to be with one particular property...They had no way to know that the household there was headed by a most trusted woman and had been recently joined by a certain Lady Katherine…who didn’t take long to win the other woman over. It never takes long, for better or for worse. Catherine remembers receiving a letter praising how quickly Lady Katherine was learning how to properly lead a household and how she would make a very good wife for a lucky man. She had replied that no talks of marriage would be entertained, for any reason, ever, and that she was to make it clear to anyone approaching the topic. She doesn’t know whether she knew or suspected the reason, or even if she knew who Katherine was (which would have made it clear why she could never get married - again), but the topic was never brought up again and Catherine was content with that.

And even more content when finally, seven years after Catherine had first proposed the idea to Katherine, their dream of living together becomes reality.

_Not many details are known about the last period of Catherine Parr’s life. The Dowager Queen maintained good relationships with all her stepchildren, raising Elizabeth and receiving visits from Mary and even Edward, despite the busy life of the young king. Despite various invitations, she never returned to court, choosing to live the rest of her life in quiet retirement in the same place where her tomb now rests, the only English queen to be buried in a private residence._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple of things...
> 
> Might have noticed the IDNYL references…this is actually how everything started, with the thought: ‘How can I make IDNYL about Parrward’.
> 
> I kept the ending vague because I couldn’t decide on one direction to go with. On one side I loved the idea of the two last queens being at the kids’ sides during their reigns, but 1- didn’t want to delve into a profoundly changed course of history (e.g. good relationships between the siblings so no Jane Grey and no Mary imprisoning Elizabeth; no Bloody Mary) 2- I couldn’t see them going back to court. Too much intrigue and backstabbing. They just want to finally live their lives in peace together.
> 
> Then I couldn’t decide if I wanted people to know that Catherine had taken Katherine in and how they would have reacted, the only thing sure in my mind being that any knowledge of it would have been lost to history. Moreover, I liked the idea of the extent of those relationships being lost in history…but ready to be re-discovered and surprise people if certain royals were to come back to life in present times. So yeah, simplest way to solve the problem was to ignore it by keeping it vague so I did it. 
> 
> I also couldn’t take a decision about their deaths. No Thomas Seymour means no childbirth-related death, obviously. And I wanted them to have their chances to live their lives together and happily for as long as possible. But I didn’t want to write them mourning Edward (and possibly Mary) nor one of them having to see the other dying first so…I just…didn’t. 
> 
> If you have read this far…would you like a fluff family reunion?


	3. See You on the Other Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluffy family reunion time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you couldn’t tell I’m more comfortable with modern AU…this is longer than the two previous chapters put together. 
> 
> The kids are involved, it's - obviously - wildly AU and totally self-indulgent. So consider yourself warned.

They had been back for some years when Katherine receives the text from Anna, the only queen she and Catherine are still in touch with.

The six women had quickly decided to go their own way, family ties not really mattering. Anne and Jane might have been Katherine’s cousins, but she had never met them before, and Catalina’s role as Catherine’s godmother had been more nominal than anything else. Besides, Katherine and Catherine are of the idea that it isn’t blood that makes a family…their own had been composed by the three children of the man who had married them both, none of them biologically theirs, and they had come to consider the woman who had preceded them as queen as a sister.

After they had found themselves alive in a modern world, they had quite understandably a lot to process but it became quickly evident that it was not going to be a shared effort. Katherine hadn’t particularly cared. She had Catherine and she had Anna, so while she would have welcomed the other three women in her life, she didn’t need them.

While Anna, and last that they had heard also the first three queens, had stayed in London, Katherine and Catherine had chosen to move away from the city. They had been enjoying their second chance at life when Anna’s text arrives announcing what they had been hoping for years: the kids are back too.

Katherine doesn’t waste a second to call Anna back. She is told how she had bumped into them by chance. Or not, if Anna still knows Mary. From her friend’s expression Anna would be surprised to find out Mary had not orchestrated the ‘casual’ meeting. What are the chances that Mary, Edward and Elizabeth would all be out together, without their mothers, and run into her? London is a big city and Anna had never seen the first three queens out and about…or the kids, who apparently have been back for a while. As they talk, Anna’s idea seems to be confirmed. It had taken a while for them to adjust to the situation and they had loved getting to know their mothers and spending time together, but when they had approached the topic of the other queens, they had been told that yes, they were all back, but they didn’t really know much about them. They didn’t even know where the last two wives were living, except that it was not London. But they figured out that Anna would be in touch with them, and they don’t want to upset their mothers, but could Anna set up a meeting? Anna supposes she understands. Elizabeth and Edward had barely spent any time with Anne and Jane in their first lives while Katherine and Catherine had played quite an important role. And if, like it seems, they have their full memories back, it makes sense that they would want to see again the women who had been their mother figures for most of their lives.

‘What about Mary?’

‘You know how she is. Acted like she doesn’t care but told me that if they don’t get permission from Anne and Jane, we will organise something anyway. Then said that it was just for Ed and Lizzie’s sake, of course.’ Anna’s chuckles reverberate on speakerphone, and Katherine and Catherine share a fond look: that definitely sounds like the Mary they know.

Edward and Elizabeth had come back as teenagers, possibly so that their brain could process the implications of their return and their memories, and Katherine can understand and even agrees on asking for Anne and Jane’s approval. They aren’t doing anything wrong so there is no reason to sneak around. But it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t worry. ‘Do you think they will say no?’

‘Honestly? No. Why would they? They have no problems with you. And from what I heard, if it makes the kids happy, they’d do pretty much anything.’

‘Good.’ Katherine nods at Catherine’s response to Anna’s statement. They deserve it. They had loved them and done their best to give them what they needed, but they had always been aware that their royal status had set severe limitations to that. Starting with the fact that them getting the chance to live their dream together came to the expense of Edward, who had to leave behind any semblance of childhood to take the throne at nine.

‘So yeah, I don’t think we will have to go behind their backs.’

Anna was right. And that’s why she is with the first three queens and their children at the park waiting for Katherine and Catherine.

Elizabeth is pacing. ‘What if they are not coming?’

‘Not again.’ Mary groans.

‘Maybe they changed their mind and-’

‘That’s not going to happen.’ Anna stops her.

‘Like. Ever.’ Mary mutters. She is definitely over her sister’s nerves. At least her brother is just sitting on the bench, fidgeting in silence.

Anna knows it’s up to her to try and calm Elizabeth down. Mary clearly isn’t going to be helpful. And the other adults have no clue about what is going on. Catalina seems curious but not particularly concerned, unlike the other two. When Anne, seeing the obvious anxiety the younger children were displaying, had tried to suggest that if they had changed their mind, they could just leave, Jane nodding in agreement, the twin shouts of ‘No’ had actually scared away the pigeons ambling around their spot hoping for some crumbles. So now they are just looking on, tense about their children being tense.

‘They were ready to come and meet you the moment I told them about you being back.’ Anna reassures Elizabeth. ‘Your sister is right. There is nothing that will keep them from-’ she sees Edward bolting up from the corner of her eyes. ‘you.’ She concludes. She puts her hands on the girl’s shoulders and turns her around. ‘Look at that.’

The young woman who is holding one arm open while holding her brother close to her with the other doesn’t look like anything like she remembers, but Elizabeth knows from the photos that Anna had showed them that she is the last wife of her father. She doesn’t hesitate in joining the hug.

Elizabeth sighs in Catherine’s arms, before taking a step back. She looks around.

‘She had to park the car, but I just couldn’t wait.’

Elizabeth seems to relax and get tenser at the same time. She glances at Catherine sheepishly, but the woman just smiles at her. She isn’t offended. The girl always had a special relationship with Katherine. She remembers how upset she had been when she had found out that Catherine had been in touch with Katherine during her whole marriage to the King and had kept her in the dark. For days the 14-years-old would light up every time she’d caught a glimpse of Katherine exactly like she had when she had seen her for the first time after years …and glare at Catherine at every occasion. It had never veered into disrespect, neither Elizabeth’s upbringing nor Katherine would have tolerated it (and there were few things that the girl seemed to worry about more than disappointing the disgraced former queen), so Catherine had put up with it good-naturally. She knew that Elizabeth was smart enough to understand why they did it and that she was just upset because she had missed Katherine very much. Catherine empathised with her, she had missed the younger woman terribly herself during those three years and half and she had been at least able to correspond with her. 

A gasping sob announces Katherine’s arrival and Elizabeth immediately launches herself at her. From the way their shoulders shake as they hug it’s clear they are both crying.

Catherine nudges Edward, who is lingering at her side. He looks at her, hesitation on his face and she nods encouragingly. As the boy approaches the girls and is quickly welcomed into Katherine’s arms, Catherine’s mind goes back to a similar scene, centuries before.

Officially it had been the newly crowned King paying a courtesy visit to the Dowager Queen and his sister, Princess Elizabeth. Despite what his advisers thought, Catherine had no hidden political agenda trying to secure private moments with Edward. She had finally managed to arrange one and herself and Elizabeth had been the only one present when Katherine had shown up, curtsying as appropriate in front of the King. Edward had been shocked. He had looked at Catherine as if asking if the person in front of him was truly whom he thought she was. She understood the hesitation. While he had fond memories of the fifth wife of his father, he had been five the last time he had seen her, and he had never spent as much time with her as his sister did.

‘Lady Katherine had been waiting anxiously for the chance to see you again.’

That was all that it had taken for him to drop his kingly person and act like a child of his age, quickly going up to the young woman and hugging her.

‘My babies.’ Katherine’s voice brings her back. ‘Look at you.’ Catherine watches with a smile as her love gazes at the two in adoration, as if trying to memorise their new features. Katherine wipes away Elizabeth’s tears, resting her hand on her cheek. Her other hand does the same with Edward. ‘We are so proud of you.’

‘Really?’

Catherine has a flashback to a younger Elizabeth looking up at Katherine for approval after finishing a particularly complex music piece.

‘Of course.’ Katherine sighs out, almost in disbelief that both teenagers are looking as if they are hoping for a positive answer, but they are not sure of it. ‘We’re both so proud of you, aren’t we, Cathy?’

She holds out her hand and Catherine takes it. ‘Absolutely.’

‘Cathy?’

For the first time they seem to realise there are not alone.

‘Turn out our name is as popular today as it was in the past.’ Katherine doesn’t appear fazed by the reminder that there are other people around. ‘And I think it would be frowned upon to have people call her Your Majesty. So she is Cathy and I’m Kat.’

It had never really been a problem in the past. Katherine had been Lady Katherine, an address that would have never been used for the Queen Dowager. And while they used their first name in private, along with other terms of endearment, there were hardly any chances of confusion as they would obviously not call themselves.

Kat disentangles herself from the huddle they had formed. ‘It’s wonderful to see you again, Mary.’

Cathy always says that Kat is the bravest person she knows…and she stands by it as she watches her going for a hug with the oldest Tudor child. Seeing that the embrace isn’t rejected, she quickly decides to take advantage of that and join in. Their relationship had its ups and downs, but she had missed her.

Mary had been perhaps the less surprised to see Katherine at Catherine’s side, but it had taken her the longest to come around to it. Funnily enough, the atmosphere had been tenser with Catherine than with Katherine, in a sort of role reversal. When Katherine had become queen, Mary had clashed with her, but then things were smoothed out, helped by Catherine’s intercession as both lady-in-waiting and friend. By the time Katherine had been banished, Mary was on cordial terms with her. When Catherine became queen, it became clear that Mary’s main problem was with anyone taking what she still considered her mother’s place. So while Katherine had gone from stepmother to sort of friend, Catherine had gone from friend to despised stepmother and it took longer for Mary to see her again as a friend.

Cathy’s musing are interrupted as she feels other arms encircling her and Mary huffing. ‘What is this?’

‘Family hug!’ Edward and Elizabeth announce in unison and Cathy is quite sure they must have seen it in some show or movie.

‘You know, they weren’t like this before you two came around.’

Cathy knows that Mary means it as a complaint, but Cathy doesn’t see it like that. They had done their best to bring the children together as a family and to show them that expressions of affection were acceptable and even welcome. To know that it worked brings immense joy to her.

‘You know you love it.’ Katherine lands a kiss on Mary’s cheek with a loud smack, clearly not taking Mary’s grumbling seriously. ‘Ops.’

‘Tell me you didn’t leave lipstick.’ Mary leans away with a glare.

‘I didn’t.’ Katherine smiles while reaching up to rub Mary’s cheek with her thumb. Like Cathy said. Fearless. ‘Lip gloss.’

Mary bats her hand away before steps away fully. ‘This is why I don’t spend time with you.’

‘I thought it was because this is the first time we meet again.’ Katherine replies cheekily.

‘Not to interrupt this lovely reunion,’ Cathy follows Anna’s glance as she speaks up and realises her friend is probably not the one getting antsy, ‘but I was promised lunch…’

‘Right!’ Elizabeth grabs Kat’s arm, smiling. ‘We are taking you to my favourite place!’

‘Then lead the way, Your Majesty,’ Katherine says with an exaggerated bow.

Cathy exchanges an amused look with Edward. He then sends her a boyish grin and offers her his arm.

‘My Lord,’ she gives him a mock curtsy before linking arms.

Elizabeth and Katherine are walking ahead, the girl still holding loosely onto Katherine’s arm. Despite her previous words, Mary joins them, quickly getting involved into whatever exchange the two younger girls are having.

Cathy and Edward are few steps behind, having their own conversation. It was no secret that if Katherine had always been Elizabeth’s favourite, she had been Edward’s.

Trailing behind are the other four queens, three of them with various degrees of confusion and curiosity.

‘You don’t seem surprised.’ Catalina points out. Personally, she was taken aback by Mary’s warmth towards the last two queens. So far she had seen her like that only with herself and her siblings, while she had been stand-offish with Anne and Jane. Also the interactions between Katherine and Catherine had piqued her interest.

‘About what?’ Anna can probably guess but still asks.

‘They seem very close.’

‘They are. Were. Are.’ Anna huffs. ‘I hate this.’

‘I mean, I know that Catherine, Cathy, well, that Bessie lived with her after Henry’s death,’ Anne continues. ‘I’m more surprised about Katheri-Kat. I see why the need for distinctive nicknames.’ She mutters.

‘I agree. I have read about Edward’s close relationship with Queen Parr.’ Jane joins in. She had been quite jealous of the woman who had the chance to see her boy grow, to raise him, but she had come to terms with it, especially once he had been returned to her and she had a second chance, actually her first one to be honest, at being a mother.

‘Look, I get the curiosity.’ Anna stops them. ‘But I think it’s best if you ask them. I’ve always been more like a third-party observer.’

As they arrive to the restaurant Kat excuses herself to go the toilet and touch up her make-up, aware the happy tears she had cried had probably left some not-so-happy traces on her face.

She is still absent when a waiter brings the glasses. Cathy carefully pour the ice cubes from Kat’s glass into her own. ‘What?’ She asks seeing the quizzical stares she is getting. ‘She doesn’t like ice in her drinks.’

‘You’re so…how do they say now?’ Mary makes a show of thinking about it. ‘Whipped.’

‘You know, you’ll fall in love, Mary, mark my words, and then we’ll see who will laugh.’

‘Mary, leave your stepmother alone.’ Kat interrupts the staring contest between Cathy and Mary.

‘Which one?’ Mary doesn’t even try to defend herself or say she isn’t doing anything. ‘I have like five of them.’

‘But I’m your favourite, right?’ Kat slides into her seat next to Cathy.

Mary rolls her eyes. ‘Sure.’

‘Ah!’ Kat punches the air, ignoring the lack of enthusiasm of the response.

‘Of course, no competition.’ Cathy agrees good-naturally, exchanging an amused look with Anna. They all know that Mary never considered any of them her stepmother at all. She had hated Anne fiercely. Her relationship with Jane had been better, but she was 20 and the pain of her mother’s death still too fresh to look for anything close to a motherly relationship. And while Anna had been like an aunt to her siblings and Kat and Cathy like mothers, to her they had been at the best of times friends.

‘But _you_ are _my_ favourite.’ Kat pecks Cathy on her cheek.

‘Ugh. Is this how you are all the time in your countryside house? Among the…let me guess, books and music and…gardening?’

‘You say it to make fun of us, but I choose to believe it’s because you know us so well.’

Mary huffs. ‘You know what I always hated about you? That you never hated me.’

Cathy laughs.

‘What?’ Both Kat and Mary ask.

‘I just remembered our chat.’

Kat tilts her head. They had a lot of chats.

‘You telling me that Mary hated you and that you understood even if you had just wanted to be her friend.’

Kat nods at that. Of course she remembers that conversation. It had led to their first kiss, how could she forget it.

The lunch progresses nicely with the last two queens and the kids monopolizing the conversation. What Kat and Cathy had been up since coming back. How the youngest Tudors are finding the new world. Kat offering to teach Mary how to drive, since she loves it, unlike Cathy who had gotten the licence just to be able to take over and let Kat rest but is not overly fond of it.

As the dessert arrives, Kat takes a look at the slice of cake, then grabs Cathy’s plate and stands up.

‘Kat, it’s fine.’ They had chosen to go for the fixed menu and she doesn’t want to make a fuss asking for a different dish.

‘It’s not. I’m going to ask.’

‘I’m allergic to peaches and apricots and a sacher-torte is supposed to be with apricots jam.’ Cathy explains. ‘Please, just go ahead and eat.’

‘Can we come to visit and have a sleepover?’ Elizabeth asks out of the blue before doing as Cathy said and taking a bite of her cake.

‘You have to ask your mother.’

‘Can we come to visit and sleep over?’ Elizabeth repeats the question as Kat returns, sliding the plate in front of Cathy.

‘If you have permission of course!’ She sits down. ‘It’s an alternative version with oranges.’ She tells Cathy, before addressing Elizabeth again. ‘We have a room ready for you if you don’t mind sharing. We have kept it quite neutral because we didn’t know-’ Kat’s voice quivers. They had hoped they would come back, but they had no way to know when it would happen…or if it would happen at all. ‘You can make it your own.’

‘What about me?’

‘You can have the couch.’ Mary’s exaggerate outraged expression makes Kat chuckles, breaking the tension. ‘What? You insist you are not our child, why should you get a room?’

‘It’s a very comfy couch though,’ Cathy joins the teasing. ‘We never had a complain.’ She looks at Anna who had been the only overnight guest they had.

Anna nods. ‘Better than some beds.’

‘Just joking. We got two sofa beds just for that, one in the living room and one in the library. You know, just in case.’ Kat sends a smile to Mary. They had hoped for her return too, not just the younger kids.

‘I’m sorry, not to be…’ Anne trails off. ‘But can someone explain what’s going on? Or better, it seems…what had been going on? I’m a bit confused.’ She sees Catalina and Jane nodding in agreement. ‘We are a bit confused. I mean, I know about Cathy. And I’ll be forever grateful that you had been there for my girl when I couldn’t.’ She looks at Elizabeth who beams back at her.

‘And my boy.’ Jane adds.

‘But none of the books I read say anything about Kat?’

‘I think we, better than anyone else, should know that books don’t necessarily get things right.’ Cathy points out.

There is silence for a bit, as if everyone is thinking about the incorrect, if not patently false, stuff they have read about themselves.

‘To be fair, it is probably one of the best kept secret of Tudor times.’ Mary acknowledges, getting nods from the people in the know.

‘Oh, have you seen your tomb?’

‘Elizabeth!’ Anne hisses while everyone else looks at her shocked by the topic change…as well as by the enthusiastic tone of the question.

‘No? We didn’t really see the need to? Did you?’ Cathy asks the others.

Anna shrugs. ‘I was curious.’

Catalina frowns, memory going back to the somehow morbid tour of Peterborough Cathedral, the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, and Westminster Abbey **,** that they had upon their children’s request. ‘I don’t remember seeing it.’

‘Because it was not there.’ Elizabeth takes out her phone, quickly typing as if she hadn’t learned of those devices’ existence only months prior.

‘Is it on private land? The only queen’s burial on private land?’ Anne tries to recall what she had read.

‘Yes!’ Elizabeth nods to her mom, before handing the phone to Cathy. ‘Hope you like it.’

Cathy lets out a chuckle, showing the screen to Kat. The younger girl frowns. ‘Does it-’

‘Yes.’ Cathy confirms.

Kat smiles at Elizabeth. ‘Thanks.’

‘Can I see?’

They pass the phone around, but there is no reaction except confusion. Catalina is the last one to see it. It’s a photo of an inscription:

_Catharinae Angliae Reginae, Dominae meae clementissimae._

Who shall seperate us (Rm 8, 35)

The quote from the Epistle to the Romans is unusually short, but she fails to see what is making Cathy and Kat look delighted and Elizabeth proud of herself.

‘They buried us together.’ Cathy seems to take pity on them.

Catalina looks at the inscription again. She supposes that the Latin could be read instead of feminine genitive for ‘[tomb] of Catherine, Queen of England, my most clement mistress’ as a feminine nominative plural referring to two women both called Catherine, both queens of England and most clement mistresses. Still doesn’t explain why that would be a thing.

‘To make it quick and simple.’ Kat decides to stop beating around the bush. They have nothing to hide. Not anymore. ‘You know how the rhyme goes? Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, disgraced, survived. Well, after the disgraced part, I joined Cathy’s household.’

Cathy snorts. Way to make it simple.

‘So you went from being the queen of England to serve the one who took your place…and you were happy about working for her?’ the first three queens all seem to struggle with the idea. They would have absolutely hated it if something like that had happened to them.

‘Work?!? Please! She was the mistress of the house.’ Mary scoffs.

‘Well, she was for sure the mistress of my heart,’ Cathy takes Kat’s hand and kisses its back.

‘Are they seriously like this all the time?’ Mary turns to Anna.

‘More or less.’ The fourth queen shrugs. ‘Well, more.’ She adds with a grin. She doesn’t actually mind and she is happy for her friends – and she is sure that Mary feels the same – but she is glad to have someone to join her teasing efforts to balance the cuteness overload. 

‘I never thought it was possible for you two to get more disgustingly sweet than you already were.’

‘Perks of not having to hide anymore.’

Cathy and Kat look at each other with soft smiles, before leaning their heads in, foreheads pressed together.

‘Let’s keep setting unrealistic expectations.’ Elizabeth grumbles with a sigh.

‘What?’

‘I mean, ever wondered why I never married?’

Everyone looks around wildly to check that nobody heard that, as if a teenager talking about marriage was weirder than women talking about themselves as queens of England from Tudor times.

‘Because you realised you didn’t need a man to be a good queen?’ Cathy tries.

‘Because you were traumatised by your father beheading your mother and getting close to executing two of the other four wives who followed her?’ Kat offers her own suggestion.

‘Because you realised that behind every great man there is a great woman, but every great woman has some man or other in front of her, tripping her up?’ Cathy quotes Dorothy Sayers, whose works she had been enjoying lately, before tackling on. ‘No offence, Edward.’

‘None taken.’ He shrugs it off with a small smile. ‘Can’t say I had been a great man, but I certainly had some great women behind me.’ He says, gesturing towards his older sister and the three women who had married his father after his mother died.

‘All those reasons. Partially. When I decided it first, it was definitely because of how you,’ Elizabeth nods towards Kat. ‘And Aunt Anna had been treated. And yes, once I was queen I didn’t want to have to hand over my power to a man. But also…I hadn’t many examples of good, successful relationships. Except yours. So, I knew perfectly well what I did not want from a partnership…and what I wanted. Something like what you two had. Why should have I settled for anything less?’

‘Really?’ Kat asks, quite surprised, as she sees Mary nods.

‘I wish I had thought of that too. I wouldn’t even had have to worry about succession because of Elizabeth.’

Kat doesn’t know what to say. ‘I feel like I should apologise?’

‘For what? Setting very high standards?’

‘I don’t think they are-’

‘Come on, your story is basically a romantic novel.’ Mary cuts her off.

‘I thought you’d be more into gothic ones.’ Kat muses.

‘Romantic as romance, not as romanticism. You have to see it. Waiting for each other for years. Your plans constantly thwarted by the King. Both going through unhappy marriages to said King and escaping death. And then finally being reunited thanks to the help of a family member.’

‘God bless Anne’s soul.’ Kat and Cathy say at the same time.

‘And living happily ever after. Including a second chance at life.’ 

‘I never really thought about it like that.’ Cathy admits.

‘Yes,’ Kat agrees. ‘I suppose I never saw it this way.’

‘And how did you see it?’

‘Well. Just. That Catherine was the only person who truly saw me for what I was. That she was the only one I truly had a connection with, no matter what other people said.’ She scowls at those memories. ‘That she was the love of my life. Now, both of my lives. And that everything I went through led me to her so I wouldn’t change a second of that.’

‘Really?’

‘Perhaps Henry dying earlier,’ Kat grimaces, sending an apologetic look around the table, hoping that she had not upset anybody. He had still been the kids’ father and she isn’t sure what are the other queens’ feelings towards him. ‘When he was still married to me.’ She turns to Cathy. ‘So that you wouldn’t have had to go through that too.’

Cathy smiles understandingly. They had their fair share of ‘what-if’ conversations, ranging from the most terrible ones (what if Kat had told the truth, that there had been no pre-contract because Dereham had raped her? What if she had not been believed?) to happier ones (what if Henry had never chosen Kat as his wife? What if they had followed through their original plan of Kat joining Cathy and Neville at Snape Castle?).

‘But then maybe we wouldn’t have all come back together.’

At the end of the day, Cathy wouldn’t change a thing either.

**Author's Note:**

> The story is not marked complete because I might write a short alternate (happy) ending, if you'd be interested in that...


End file.
